From the Chronicle of John Hardyng we find that Richard II. was imprisoned at Pickering before being taken to Knaresborough, and finally to Pontefract. The lines in his quaint verse must have been written between 1436 and 1465.
"The Kyng the[n] sent Kyng Richard to Ledis,
There to be kepte surely in previtee,
Fro the[n]s after to Pykeryng we[n]t he nedes,
And to Knauesburgh after led was he,
But to Pountfrete last where he did die."
[1] The Chronicle of John Hardyng, edited by Henry Ellis, 1812, p. 356.
There seems little doubt that the story of the murder of the king at Pontefract Castle by Sir Piers Exton is untrue, but "nothing is certainly known of the time, place, or manner of his death."
The records of the Coucher Book contain a mass of interesting and often entertaining information concerning the illicit removals of oak trees from the forest, hunting and killing the royal deer and other animals, as well as many other offences.
At the forest Eyre, a sort of assizes, held at Pickering in 1334 to deal with a great accumulated mass of infringements on the rights of the forest, the first case is against Sir John de Melsa, Lord of Levisham, who was, according to the jury, "in the habit of employing men to make and burn charcoal out of browsewood and dry sticks in his woods at Levisham, which are now within the bounds of the forest, and he exposes the charcoal for sale, injuring the lord and annoying the deer, by what right they know not. Sir John is summoned, appears, and pleads that he and his ancestors and the tenants of the Manor of Levisham have from ancient time taken the browsewood and dry sticks in the said woods and burnt them into charcoal, and afterwards exposed them for sale, and given them away at pleasure as part of his and their manorial rights. He asks that the officers of the forest may try the question. As it clearly appears to the Court by the answer of Sir John that he is making a claim to take a profit in the forest which he did not claim on the first day of the Eyre, as the custom is, and as proclamation was made, judgment is given that the liberty be seized into the Lord's hands, and Sir John is to answer for its value in the meantime. Afterwards Sir John appears, and prays that he may be allowed to pay a composition for making his claim, and a composition of 6s. 8d. is fixed. Surety, Richard de Naulton. The jury also present that a bridge called Friar Bridge, beyond the Costa, across which people are wont to pass on horseback and on foot going from Pickering to Malton, is in such bad repair that people cannot pass over, but have to make a divergence of about a mile and a half in the forest, treading down and injuring the pasturage of the deer. The Abbot of Rievaulx and all Abbots of that place are bound to repair it. He is summoned, appears, and does not deny that he and they are bound to repair it, but he says that the bridge is not in such bad repair that people cannot pass over it as they are wont and ought to do without doing harm to any one. He asks that an inquiry may be made by the officers of the forest. An inquiry is directed. The foresters, verderers, and regarders, sworn and charged, say on their oaths, that after the summons for the Eyre was issued, the bridge was in such bad repair that people being unable to pass over it made a divergence into the forest, annoying the Lord's deer and treading down their pasturage. Afterwards the Abbot repaired it so that it requires nothing further, and people can quite well pass over it. Therefore as to the present repair of the bridge the Abbot is acquitted, but he is to be amerced because he did not repair it before.
"The jury also present that the present Prior of Bridlington erected a sheepfold at Newland in the forest, 100 feet long and 12 feet broad, injuring thereby the Lord's deer, notwithstanding that on another occasion at the last Eyre of the Justices the sheepfold was ordered to be taken down. By what right they know not. The Prior appears and prays to be allowed to compound with the Lord, and that he and his successors may rent the sheepfold in perpetuity, inasmuch as it no longer injures the deer. Since the foresters, verderers, and regarders prove that it is so the Prior is permitted to compound by the payment of 13s. 4d. (surety Ralph de Morton), and he is likewise given a grant for ever of the sheepfold at a yearly rent of 6d. at Michaelmas. The Prior is to hold it for ever quit of regard. The jury also present that the bridge and road of Pul within the forest, which are common highways for carriages, carts, drifts, and packsaddles are in such bad repair that none can pass over them. The Prior of the Hospital of St John, by reason of his tenure of lands which formerly belonged to the Knights Templars, and the Prioress of Yedingham, are bound to repair and maintain them. They are summoned. The Prioress appears in person, the Prior by his attorney, Walter de Trusseley. The Prioress says that neither she nor any of her predecessors ever from ancient time repaired or ought to repair it, because she says that the Prior, by reason of his tenure of the lands which belonged to the Templars, is bound to repair and maintain the bridge and road as often as need requires, in the same way that the Templars, before the abolition of their Order, from ancient time, by reason of their tenure of their lands at Foulbridge, which the Prior now holds, repaired and maintained the bridge and road. She asks that an inquiry may be directed." The Prior, by his attorney, denies most of the charges seriatim, but the judgment of the Court is that "the Prior be distrained to compel him to repair and make good the bridge and road to the east, and is to be amerced because he has not done it sooner, and the Prioress is to be acquitted because the road to the west of the bridge is not at present out of repair."
